Dragon's Wrath

Exalted on The Blessed Isle

Sepherene Flashback I

23

DEC/13

Faced with untold danger from a giant dragon made out of the ruins of Hjubah, Sepherene weighed the odds of activating her armor. The pros outweigh the cons.

“Stealth mode: Engage.”

All of a sudden, Sepherene felt a pulling from the center of her chest. It was an extremely uncomfortable feeling. To push away the nausea, Sepherene had to close her eyes. After a second, the feeling leaves her and she reopens her eyes to find all of her equipment missing. She was missing her armor, her hearth stones, everything. Her boots! Her claws!

Sepherene began to feel weak. They were just gone. How could they be gone. She
began checking her body to see if all of it was just invisible. But she could her skin. She could tell she was no longer weighed down by all the metal. Her vision started to fade. One of the last things she heard was “Why aren’t you running?!”

White out

Before Sepherene could realize what was going on around her, she was back in one
of the many safehouses around creation The Unconquered Wolf of the Diamond Shield
had set up. If she remembered this one, she was in Port Calin. It was the first safehouse she had been brought to since her rescue from the Guildmen. She could feel herself striding through the hall towards the Wolf’s room. There’s no way Sepherene could forget this moment. This is when she made the choice to devote her life to working with the Unconquered Wolf, and destroying the Guild and House Cynis of the Realm. Sepherene was so nervous. She worried so much about what the Wolf would say, that she couldn’t walk in right away. She paced the hall for a few moments trying to gather the courage. Through the door she could hear voices.

“We have to send her home.”

“Drana, she’s not going to want to go home. She can’t. She’s been so strong for so long, she wouldn’t fit back at home. Her parents will treat her like the baby she was and she will give in to it. Stagnant waters spoil.”

“Wolf, she deserves to go home. She’s going to want revenge but she’s not like you. She’s gonna find out how little she’s capable of, and it’s going to crush her. Or worse, she’s going to die out there trying to keep up with you.”

“I wouldn’t let her die. I wouldn’t let any of you die.”

“Of course not, but Seph and I kind of looked out for each other in Bright Harbor. I know how she is and I want her to be happy. She is my friend and she should go home.”

“That’s neither my choice to make, nor is it yours. She’ll tell us what she wants. After
all, you want to stay.”

“Thats different. Just think about it.”

“I have. If she wishes to stay, I’m going to help her, train her, and give her these.”

“She cant use those.”

“Anyone can, with training.”

Sepherene came to her senses. She heard footsteps coming towards the door. And here she is standing right in front of it. Eavesdropping no less. She sideshifted into the room across the hall and quietly pushed the door closed. After she heard the one leave, she opened the door again and saw Wolf taking a pair of golden boots and putting them in a chest. A golden glow shined from inside.

“Wolf, I’d like to talk..”

White out

It was approaching twilight, when Sepherene left the cabin of the Lady’s Luck. She was
carrying a chest out of the cabin and down to the stern. She set the chest down on the deck in front a man sized white sheet. Slowly the rest of the Night-sisters gathered around.

“It is time to say good bye to our friend and leader. The name Unconquered Wolf of the
Diamond Shield has struck fear in the name of the Guild for a long time. Sadly, his war
with them is over. But our war is just beginning. It’s no longer just about the Guild.
It’s about The Realm, House Cynis, and Nexus. It’s about freedom. About all women having control of their lives, no longer being toys and objects to be bought and sold by men. It’s about no longer having to lose ones we love to the Terrestrials playing King. By the time we are done with this war, we will bring about a new age. An age of the Unconquered.”

After a few moments of lighting candles and saying prayers, the women take the man under the sheet, set him in a boat. Sepherene reaches out and opens the chest she had carried out. She takes a pair of steel claws and boots out of the chest and sets them in the boat with him.

Then together they lower it into the water. It begins to separate from the Lady’s Luck.
And then one of the women set it ablaze with an arrow.

“He was a dear friend, a mentor, and a true hero. He did all he could to save everyone.
And in the end, this is where his destiny lead him. He is with the Unconquered Sun now.”

“What are they doing? Playing cards?” Drana says. The rest of the women laugh and crack a smile for the first time in days.

Sepherene reaches into the chest and pulls out a larger, shinier pair of claws and boots.
Obviously orichalcum.